Senators consider halting raises as Bryan administration struggles to pay bills

A growing chorus of senators is denouncing Gov. Albert Bryan Jr.’s decision to allow raises for some public officials to quietly go into effect on Jan. 1, criticizing the timing of the pay increases as tone-deaf amid the government’s failures to pay trash haulers and fund other critical infrastructure needs.

Minority Leader Sen. Dwane DeGraff said Tuesday he is calling for the 35th Legislature to hold one final special session on Friday to rescind the pay increases. “Let’s address it now,” DeGraff said in a phone interview with The Daily News. “To me, elected officials shouldn’t get a raise if you have a community that I would consider basically at poverty level.” After the 36th Legislature is sworn into office on Jan. 13, DeGraff said senators should thoroughly review the raises proposed by the V.I. Public Officials Compensation Commission to determine if they’re appropriate at this time.

DeGraff said he is not opposed to public employees receiving reasonable pay increases, “I’m against elected officials getting a raise, especially after an election. It doesn’t add that transparency,” DeGraff said. While the commission’s report was due in 2022, it wasn’t completed until August. But the existence of the report was known only to some, including Bryan, who finally issued it to the public in a press release Sunday night. Senators have expressed shock that the report was apparently kept secret until after a 90-day statutory period expired, which allowed the raises to automatically go into effect on Jan. 1 without input from lawmakers.